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Stars open homestand with 5-2 win over Avalanche

by
Mark Stepneski
/ Dallas Stars

What a difference a week can make in the NHL. Last Saturday the Dallas Stars were reeling after an 8-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at American Airlines Center. This Saturday they beat the Colorado Avalanche, giving themselves three wins in their last four games and pushing them into eighth place in the Western Conference.

“It’s crunch time and we know what we’ve got to do,” said Stars center Cody Eakin, who was one of five Dallas players to score Saturday. “It’s a matter of finding our stride. There’s no time to take off now. We’ve got momentum, we’ve got to take it and we’re got to bear down for the games remaining.”

The Stars, opening a key five-game homestand, came out strong Saturday night, scoring 34 seconds into the game and then again midway through the first. By the 24:37 mark of the game they had a 4-0 lead.

“I think we were focused, we were really mad about what happened last time (at Colorado Wednesday),” said Stars center Derek Roy, who scored the Stars’ first goal and assisted on the second. “We were up a couple goals and ended up blowing the game with work ethic. We didn’t work as hard as we could and that cost us the game. Tonight was our time to come out at home and establish a good forecheck, establish a good work ethic. We did that the first shift, moved forward and did it for pretty much 60 minutes.”